JP2001067284A - Failure communication arrival notification system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an inexpensive failure communication arrival notification system which does not especially need management software or an application as a failure monitoring tool by driving an alarm device of a kind corresponding to operation confirmation data when operation confirmation data are not received at constant time intervals any more. SOLUTION: When confirmation data that the main software of operation servers 11 and 19 send periodically do not arrive at failure communication acceptance servers 13 and 20, alarm devices 16 and 22 for operation confirmation data nonarrival notification are driven. The operation confirmation data are sent periodically from the main software and while the data arrive periodically at the failure communication acceptance servers 13 and 20, it is judged that the operation servers 11 and 19 are in normal operation. That is, when the operation confirmation data do not arrive the failure communication acceptance server 13 any more, the alarm device 16 is driven. Similarly, when the operation confirmation data do not arrive at the failure communication acceptance server 20 any more, the alarm device 22 is driven.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (I
(Nternet Protocol) It relates to a failure notification arrival notification system in a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a client / server type or distributed TCP / IP network is composed of a plurality of sites, and each site is provided with a business server for performing a specific business at the site. . The business server is usually a UNIX or Windows NT server
r for various multi-user and multi-task
It is composed of a computer operating on S. And
Each site is basically unmanned, since the specific tasks are usually handled automatically.

[0003] In the conventional computer network, the notification of the arrival of a fault notification has been realized by using a protocol specific to each management software.

[0004]

However, a fault notification arrival notification system using a protocol specific to each management software requires an expensive computer for fault notification and an OS or application mounted on the fault notification system. Is expensive.
In addition, when different management software is used, there is a problem that it is difficult to integrate the systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a failure notification reception system in a TCP / IP network based on a concept of realizing a failure notification arrival notification system using communication means used in the TCP / IP network such as an electronic mail and a file transfer protocol. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive failure communication arrival notification system that requires only an inexpensive computer as a server and an operation monitoring server, and that does not require special management software or an application as a failure monitoring tool.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, what is provided by the present invention includes a plurality of sites connected by a network, a business server provided at each of the plurality of sites, Connected to each of the trouble communication reception server provided in at least one of the sites, the operation confirmation server provided in at least one of the sites provided with the trouble communication reception server, and the trouble communication reception server and the operation confirmation server When a plurality of types of alarm devices are operated, the type of the alarm device is identifiable by an operator, and any one of a business server, a failure notification reception server, and an operation confirmation server is provided. If a failure occurs in one of the e-mails or the file transfer protocol, the failure is reported to another failure server other than the failed server. At least one of the reception server and the operation confirmation server detects the failure, and the business server sends operation confirmation data to the at least one of the failure notification reception servers at regular time intervals by either an email or a file transfer protocol. The communication reception server and the operation confirmation server drive an alarm device of a type corresponding to the type of the failure source when a failure has been detected, and the failure communication reception server does not receive operation confirmation data at regular time intervals. A failure notification arrival notification system characterized by driving an alarm device of a type corresponding to operation confirmation data.

[0007] The operation confirmation server transmits data for prompting the transmission of the operation confirmation mail to all of the failure notification reception servers by using a file transfer protocol. When the operation confirmation mail is not received by any of the protocols, it is preferable that the failure notification reception server drives an alarm device of a type indicating that a failure has occurred.

[0008] The operation confirmation server periodically sends an operation confirmation mail to one of the failure notification reception servers, and the failure notification reception server receives an operation confirmation mail from the operation confirmation server when the operation confirmation mail is not received periodically. The server may drive an alarm device of a type indicating that a failure has occurred. At the time of failure of the failure notification reception server, at least one of the operation confirmation servers may substitute for the function of the failure notification reception server during the failure.

According to the present invention, a failure notification arrival notification system in a TCP / IP network is realized by using communication means used in the TCP / IP network such as an electronic mail and a file transfer protocol. Thus, an inexpensive trouble notification arrival notification system that does not require an inexpensive computer and does not require special management software as a trouble monitoring tool is provided.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the following description, the same reference numerals indicate the same components. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a schematic configuration of a failure notification arrival notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, three sites X, Y, and Z are floor L
AN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Ne)
twork).

The site X has two business servers 11 and 12, a failure notification reception server 13, and an operation confirmation server 14.
Are provided. Three different alarm devices 15, 16 and 17 are connected to the failure notification reception server 13. An alarm device 18 different from the alarm devices 15 to 17 is connected to the operation confirmation server 14. The site Y is provided with a business server 19 and a failure notification reception server 20. Two different alarm devices 21 and 22 are connected to the fault notification reception server 20.

At the site Z, only the business server 23 is provided. The alarm devices 15 to 18, 21 and 22 are, for example, lit or sounded when a fault occurs, such as a patrol lamp or a buzzer which emits light in different colors, and generate a warning according to the type of the fault. In FIG. 1, 2
Although only one failure notification reception server is illustrated, any number of three or more failure notification reception servers may be provided in any number of sites.

[0013] The trouble communication reception server 1 marked with ★ in FIG.
3 is located in the same site X as the operation check server 14, and also performs an operation check operation of the operation check server 14 as described later in detail. The failure notification reception server 20 shown in FIG. 1 exists at a site Y different from the site X to which the operation check server 14 belongs, and does not check the operation of the operation check server 14.

FIG. 2 shows a failure notification reception server that does not check the operation of the operation check server 14, for example, the operation check server 2.
It is a figure showing the element contained in 0. As shown in the figure, the failure notification reception server 20 includes an exclusive control flag A, an operation monitoring data storage unit B, and a failure notification reception server provided corresponding to the business server monitored by the failure notification reception server. , A failure notification receiving account D, and business server operation confirmation unnecessary flags E1, E2,... Provided correspondingly to the business servers to be monitored.
, And operation check data storage units F1, F2,... Provided correspondingly to the business servers to be monitored.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the elements included in the failure notification receiving server 13 for checking the operation of the operation checking server 14. Failure notification reception server 13 marked with ★ in FIG.
Exists in the same site X as the operation check server 14, and also checks the operation of the operation check server 14. In addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the failure notification reception server 13 further includes an operation check unnecessary flag G of the operation check server, an operation check reception electronic mail (e-mail) account H (hereinafter, “e-mail”). "E-mail").

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing elements included in the operation confirmation server 14. As shown, the operation confirmation server 14
Has an exclusive control flag K, and has the following elements corresponding to the respective failure notification reception servers. That is, in response to the failure notification reception server 13, the operation confirmation unnecessary flag Ia of the failure notification reception server, the e-mail account Ja for operation confirmation reception, and the failure notification reception provided corresponding to the business server to be monitored. Directories L1a, L2a ...
A failure notification reception e-mail account Ma is provided. Similarly, the operation confirmation unnecessary flag Ib of the failure notification reception server and the operation confirmation reception e-mail corresponding to the failure notification reception server 20 are provided.
The account Jb and the failure communication reception directories L1b, L2b provided corresponding to the business server to be monitored are provided.
And a failure notification reception e-mail account Mb.

FIG. 5 is a time sequence diagram for explaining the details of the operation of the failure notification arrival notification system shown in FIG. The main processes in the failure notification arrival notification system of FIG. 1 are the following two processes. Each process is realized by a batch command that is periodically executed. (1) Failure Notification Arrival Notification Processing In this processing, when a failure notification arrives from the business server to the failure notification reception server, the alarm device connected to the failure notification reception server drives a failure notification arrival notification alarm device. Processing.

For example, the business server 11 or 12 of the site X sends an e-mail or a file transfer protocol (hereinafter, referred to as “ftp” to the failure notification receiving server 13 to ft.
p is an abbreviation of File Transfer Protocol. ), The alarm device 15 is activated. The alarm device 15 is, for example, a yellow patrol lamp or a buzzer. The operator recognizes the occurrence of a failure by listening to the emission color or sound of the alarm device.

Similarly, when a failure notification by e-mail or ftp arrives from the business server 19 of the site Y to the failure notification reception server 20, the alarm device 21 is driven. The alarm device 21 is also a yellow patrol lamp or a buzzer, for example. Since the site Z is not provided with a failure notification reception server, a failure in the business server 23 in the site Z is determined by the failure notification reception server 13 of the site X or the site Y
Is notified by e-mail or ftp. The server that receives the failure notification from the site Z is a server in the site where an operator who understands the work of the site Z is resident and is predetermined.

As described above, the alarm device 15 or 21 provided in the fault communication reception server 13 or 20 is driven to turn on, for example, a yellow patrol lamp, and the operator sees the patrol lamp and the business server becomes abnormal. Recognize that Whether the failure notification method is e-mail or ftp, the alarm device 15 or 21 is driven in the same manner. When the operator recognizes that the alarm device 15 or 21 has been driven, the operator confirms the content of the trouble report transmitted by e-mail or ftp. When the operator receives the mail from the mail account, the driving of the alarm device ends. In other words, as long as the operator does not confirm the failure notification,
Continue notifying that the business server has failed with a patrol lamp or buzzer.

(2) Operation Confirmation Data Non-Arrival Notification Processing This processing is performed by the main software (for example, JobSch
eduler, management software, etc.) does not arrive at the failure notification reception server 13 or 20, if the operation check data non-arrival notification device 16 or 2
2 is a process of driving the second. The operation confirmation data is data sent periodically from the main software on the business server.
As long as this data continues to arrive regularly from the business server to the failure notification reception server, it is determined that the business server is operating normally. When the operation confirmation data no longer arrives at the failure notification reception server 13 from the business server 11 or 12, the alarm device 16 is driven. Similarly, when the operation confirmation data no longer arrives at the failure notification reception server 20 from the business server 19, the alarm device 22 is driven. Alarm device 1
Reference numeral 6 or 22 is, for example, a red patrol lamp.

First, the details of the failure notification arrival notification processing (1) will be described. The failure communication arrival notification processing is realized, for example, once a minute. The procedure at each failure notification reception server is as follows. (I) Check whether the exclusive control flag A is on. If it is turned on, it means that the previous failure notification arrival notification processing has not been completed,
This failure notification processing is not performed. If it is off, the exclusive control flag A is turned on and the current failure notification arrival notification processing is performed.

(Ii) Next, it is confirmed whether or not data for requesting transmission of an operation confirmation mail exists in the operation monitoring data storage unit B. If it exists, the corresponding operation confirmation reception e-mail account Ja or J in the operation confirmation server 14
b sends an operation confirmation mail to the operation monitoring data storage unit B
Delete data in. The operation monitoring data is sent from the operation confirmation server 14 to the failure notification reception servers 13 and 20 at predetermined time intervals (for example, once every 30 minutes).

(Iii) Next, it is confirmed whether a failure report has arrived from the business server corresponding to the failure report reception directories C1, C2,... (For ftp). .. Exist for the business server. If you have arrived, account D
(For e-mail) Send the trouble report by e-mail, and then delete the trouble report from the trouble report reception directory.

(Iv) Next, it is confirmed whether a trouble report has arrived at the trouble report receiving account D. If it has arrived, the alarm device 15 or 21 is activated, whereby, for example, a yellow patrol lamp is lit and a buzzer sounds. If it has not arrived, turn off the yellow patrol lamp and stop the buzzer. (V) Next, the exclusive control flag A is turned off. In this way, if one of the business servers fails, e-
The operation confirmation server is notified by mail.

Next, the operation confirmation data non-arrival notification processing (2) will be described in detail. The operation confirmation data non-arrival notification processing is performed, for example, once every 15 minutes. For this purpose, the operation confirmation unnecessary flags E1, E2,... Existing in each failure notification reception server corresponding to the business server are set to "NOCH" when the operation confirmation is not required when the business server is rebooted.
ECK ". The operation confirmation data is data that is periodically sent from each business server to the failure notification reception server.

The procedure of the operation confirmation data non-arrival notification processing by each failure notification reception server 13 or 20 is as follows. (I) First, the failure notification reception server checks the contents of the operation check unnecessary flags E1, E2,... Which exist for each business server. (Ii) If the operation confirmation unnecessary flag E is not “NOCHECK”, it is confirmed whether data exists in the operation confirmation data storage units F1, F2,. When the operation confirmation data corresponding to each business server does not regularly arrive at the corresponding failure notification reception server, the alarm device 16 or 22 is driven, whereby, for example, a red patrol lamp is turned on and a buzzer sounds. When the alarm device 16 or 22 is driven,
The name of the failure notification reception server whose operation cannot be confirmed is sent by e-mail to the failure notification reception account D. Alarm device 1
The operator of the site where the driving device exists by driving 6 or 22 knows that a failure has occurred in any of the business servers in the site, and the failure has occurred by looking at the contents of the failure communication reception account D. You can know the name of the business server that was used.

If the operation confirmation data has arrived periodically, the data in the corresponding operation confirmation data storage units F1, F2,... Are deleted. (Iii) The above steps 1 and 2 are performed for each business server. In addition to the above (1) failure notification arrival notification processing and (2) operation confirmation data non-arrival notification processing, the following three processings are also possible according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(3) Processing for Confirming the Operation of the Failure Communication Receiving Server The operation confirmation server 14 confirms the operation of all the failure communication receiving servers. This process is performed, for example, once every 30 minutes. The execution procedure of the operation confirmation server 14 is as follows. (I) As shown in FIG. 5, the operation confirmation mail is sent from the operation confirmation server 14 to the operation confirmation reception e-mail account H existing in the failure notification reception server 13 marked with a ★ near the operation confirmation server 14. Send.

(Ii) Next, the contents of the operation confirmation unnecessary flags Ia and Ib existing in the operation confirmation server 14 corresponding to each of the failure notification receiving servers are confirmed. The operation confirmation unnecessary flags Ia and Ib are stored in the failure notification reception servers 13 and 2
When the operation check of “0” is not required (at the time of reboot, etc.), the content is changed to “NOCHECK”, and when the operation check is required, the content is set to “CHECK”. If the content of the operation confirmation unnecessary flag Ia and / or Ib is “CHECK”, the corresponding operation confirmation reception e-mail account Ja and / or J in the operation confirmation server 14
Delete the contents of b.

(Iii) Next, when the content of the operation confirmation unnecessary flag Ia and / or Ib is “CHECK”, the operation monitoring server 14 stores the operation monitoring data in the corresponding failure notification receiving server 13 and / or 20. B transmits the operation monitoring data. (Iv) Next, for example, a wait of 10 minutes is performed. (V) Next, the contents of the operation confirmation reception e-mail account Ja and / or Jb existing corresponding to the failure notification reception server are confirmed. If an operation confirmation mail has arrived from each failure notification reception server, this processing ends. Also,
If there is an operation confirmation reception e-mail account Ja or Jb for which the operation confirmation mail from each trouble notification reception server has not arrived, the alarm device 18 is driven, whereby, for example, a blue patrol lamp is turned on, Sound buzzer.

As shown in FIG. 4, the operation confirmation server 14 has failure notification reception e-mail accounts Ma and Mb corresponding to the failure notification reception servers 13 and 20, respectively. If there is an operation confirmation reception e-mail account Ja and / or Jb for which the operation confirmation mail has not arrived, the failure notification reception server name is sent to the failure notification reception e-mail account Ma by e-mail.

By driving the alarm device 18, the operator resident at the site X can know that a fault has occurred in any of the fault notification receiving servers, and then change the fault notification receiving server name to the fault notification receiving server name. You can find out by reading the contents of the e-mail account Ma. (4) Operation Confirmation Processing of Operation Confirmation Server The failure notification reception server 13 marked with ★ in FIG. 1 confirms the operation of the operation confirmation server 14. This process is performed, for example, once an hour.

The procedure executed by the failure notification receiving server 13 is as follows. (I) Check the content of the operation confirmation unnecessary flag G existing in the failure notification reception server 13. When the operation check of the operation check server 14 is not required (for example, at the time of reboot), the content of the operation check unnecessary flag G is changed to “NOCHECK”, and when not, the content is set to “CHECK”. This content is "N
In the case of "OCHECK", the operation check processing of the operation check server ends.

(Ii) The operation confirmation mail in the operation confirmation reception e-mail account H existing in the failure notification reception server 13 is deleted. (Iii) The failure notification reception server 13 stops the operation confirmation processing of the operation confirmation server for, for example, 35 minutes (becomes a standby state). (Iv) The failure communication reception server 13 is an operation confirmation reception e-ma
Check whether the operation confirmation mail has arrived in the il account H. The operation confirmation mail is sent to the operation confirmation server 14
, The operation confirmation processing of the operation confirmation server ends. If the operation confirmation mail has not arrived from the operation confirmation server 14, the alarm device 17 is driven, whereby, for example, a green patrol lamp is turned on, a buzzer sounds, and the operation confirmation mail arrives from the operation confirmation server 14. The failure notification is sent to the failure notification reception e-mail account D in the failure notification reception server 13 by e-mail.

By driving the alarm device 17, the operator resident at the site X can know that a failure has occurred in the operation confirmation server 14, and then inform the failure confirmation of the operation confirmation server name in which the failure has occurred. You can find out by reading the contents of the reception e-mail account D. (5) Failure Notification Arrival Notification Processing When a failure occurs in at least one failure notification reception server, the operation confirmation server 14 performs the failure notification arrival notification processing of the failure notification reception server. This processing is performed, for example, once a minute.

While the operation check server 14 is acting for the failure notification reception server 20, for example, the business server 19 transmits the failure notification and operation data to the operation confirmation server 14. The execution procedure of the operation confirmation server 14 is as follows. (I) The operation confirmation server 14 confirms whether or not the exclusive control flag K for turning on the failure notification arrival notification processing in the operation confirmation server 14 is not set in parallel with the previous and current times. If it is ON, the failure communication arrival notification proxy processing ends. If it is off, the exclusive control flag K is turned on.

(Ii) While the exclusive control flag K is on,
.., And L1b, L2b,..., Which correspond to the respective business servers, for the failure notification reception directories L1a, L2a,. If it has arrived, the failure report is sent to the failure report reception e-mail account Ma for the failure report reception server used by the business server.
Or email Mb. And / or L1b, L2b,... And L1a, L2a,.
Deletion of trouble report in.

(Iii) Next, the content of the failure notification reception e-mail account Mb for the failure notification reception server (for example, 20) other than the ★ mark is checked. The failure notification reception e-mail account Ma for the failure notification reception server 13 attached is mailed to that effect. (Iv) Next, it is confirmed whether or not the failure notification has arrived at the failure notification reception account Ma for the failure notification reception server 13 indicated by ★. If it has arrived, it activates the alarm device 18,
Thereby, for example, a blue patrol lamp is turned on and a buzzer sounds. The operator resident at the site X knows that a failure has occurred in any of the business servers by driving the alarm device 18, and reads the contents of the failure notification reception account Ma so that the business server in which the failure has occurred can be identified. It is possible to know the name of the failure notification reception server that should perform failure notification. Then, the operator notifies other operators such as the telephone near the trouble notification receiving server of the fact that the business server in the site has a trouble by another means such as a telephone. Upon receiving the notification, the operator in the site can access the operation confirmation server 14 and see the content of the e-mail account for receiving a failure notification, which has been known, to thereby know the content of the failure.

(V) The exclusive control flag K is turned off. In this way, even if a failure has occurred in at least one of the failure notification reception servers, the operation confirmation server 14 can perform the function and detect a failure of the business server in the site Y. In FIG. 1, the operation check server exists only at the site X. However, even if the other sites are provided with the operation check server and the trouble communication reception server marked with *, the above-mentioned (1) to (5) Can be performed in the same manner as described above.

[0041]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in the failure notification arrival notification system in the TCP / IP network, the failure notification arrival notification processing, the operation confirmation data non-arrival notification processing, the failure notification reception server Operation check processing, operation check processing of the operation check server, and failure notification arrival notification proxy processing can be realized by an inexpensive computer that does not require special management software.

Further, by using e-mail or ftp widely used in a TCP / IP network, it is possible to cope with many job schedulers and management software.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a schematic configuration of a failure notification arrival notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating elements included in a failure notification reception server that does not confirm operation of the operation confirmation server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing elements included in a failure notification reception server that checks the operation of the operation check server.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing elements included in an operation confirmation server.

FIG. 5 is a time sequence diagram for explaining the details of the failure communication arrival notification system shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 X, Y, Z ... Sites 11, 12, 19, 23 ... Business server 13, 20 ... Failure notification reception server 14 ... Operation check server 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22 ... Alarm device

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) H04L 12/58

Claims (4)

[Claims] A plurality of sites connected by a network; a business server provided at each of the plurality of sites; a failure communication reception server provided at at least one of the plurality of sites; An operation check server provided in at least one of the sites where the reception server is provided; and a plurality of types of alarm devices connected to the failure notification reception server and the operation check server, respectively; When the device is in operation, the type of the alarm device is identifiable by an operator. If a failure occurs in any of the business server, the failure notification reception server, and the operation confirmation server, an e-mail and file transfer are performed. The failure notification reception server other than the server in which the failure has occurred and the operation confirmation The business server transmits operation confirmation data to the at least one of the failure notification receiving servers at regular time intervals by one of an e-mail and a file transfer protocol; The reception server and the operation confirmation server drive an alarm device of a type corresponding to the type of the failure when the failure is detected, and the failure communication reception server receives the operation confirmation data at every fixed time interval. A failure notification arrival notification system characterized by driving an alarm device of a type corresponding to the operation confirmation data when the alarm notification message disappears. 2. The operation confirmation server transmits data for prompting transmission of an operation confirmation mail to all of the failure communication reception servers by a file transfer protocol, and receives the data from the failure communication reception server. 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein, when the operation confirmation mail is not received by any of the electronic mail and the file transfer protocol, the trouble communication reception server drives an alarm device of a type indicating a trouble. Failure notification arrival notification system described. 3. The operation confirmation server sends an operation confirmation mail periodically to one of the failure notification reception servers, and the failure notification reception server periodically receives an operation confirmation mail from the operation confirmation server. 2. The failure notification arrival notification system according to claim 1, wherein when there is no failure, the operation confirmation server drives an alarm device of a type indicating a failure. 4. The failure according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said operation confirmation servers takes over the function of said failure notification reception server during a failure when said failure notification reception server fails. Contact arrival notification system.